Ol; sted’s Int 7 2 to Natu l Philosophy. 353 
to be used as a class-book than any other similar work. Cavalla’s 
Elements of Natural Philosophy, and the Treatises of Wood and 
Vince, have been used in a few of our solleges; but the diffuse style 
of the former work, and the absence of practical applications in the 
latter, rendered them both ill adapted to the purposes of a class-book. 
_ The late publications at Cambridge by Professor Farrar, compri- 
sing an entire course of mathematical and philosophical text books, 
_ compiled chiefly from the French writers, ably supplied the deficien- 
ey alluded to, and might seem to have rendered the present work 
unnecessary. But, for several reasons, the Cambridge Philosophy 
was found not to be adapted to the course of mathematical and phi- 
phical instruction in Yale College; particularly, as it does not 
cnitiealiaias in its references, to the mathematical works of President 
Day, which are used in this Institution (and which there is no incli- 
nation to exchange for any other) and, moreover, it is so extensive as 
to require a greater amount of time, than can be spared for this pur- 
pose consistently with the other exigencies of the Philosophical de- 
partment, and with the claims of the other departments of instruction. 
The he general design of Professor Olmsted’s work, is expressed in 
sisi pebenninsts It is, “first, to make the student thoroughly and fa- 
miliarly acquainted with the / of _Philoso- 
ye aerate voshistspicke teins uals av eihehenagal-sepfepmations 
within so limited a compass.” In prosecuting the form- 
er design, the compiler has first confined the attention of the student 
to the “ Mathematical Elements,” comprising a selection of the most 
important principles in the science of Mechanics ;—principles which, 
on account of the universality of their application, are particularly 
worthy of standing in the fore-ground of Natural Philosophy, and of oc- 
- cupying for a considerable time the undivided attention of the student. 
' Under the impression that the interest felt in the investigation and 
contemplation of abstract truths, like those of pure geometry, and 
theoretical mechanics, is, in its nature, different from that derived 
from pursuing these truths into their practical applications, and even 
that the two kinds of interest are in some degree incompatible with 
each other, the practical part of Mechanics is entirely separated from 
the theoretical, and made to constitute Part Il, of the first volume. 
Two incidental advantages, also, result from this arrangement 5 3—the 
first is, that the second part furnishes an excellent general review of 
the principles of Mechanics, in their connexion with each other; and 
the second is, that in the explanation of the phenomena, either of 
Vou. XXIIL.—No. 2. 45 — 
